Russell Crowe might not be the star of the Gladiator sequel hitting theaters next month, but he has found his way to the top of the Netflix charts this week. On Thursday, Unhinged is the most popular movie on the streamer, overtaking all the Netflix originals as well as the recently added Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which was in theaters just months ago.
This psychological thriller follows a lunatic named Tom Cooper (Crowe) who decides to teach a single mom named Rachel Flynn (Caren Pistorius) “what it means to have a bad day” after she honks at him in traffic while driving her son to school in rush hour traffic.
Directed by Derrick Borte (The Joneses) and written by Carl Ellsworth (Disturbia), the cast also features Jimmi Simpson, Gabriel Bateman, Austin P. McKenzie, Michael Papajohn, Lucy Faust, Devyn Tyler, Andrew Morgado, Juliene Joyner, and Stephen Louis Grush.
The reviews were decidedly mixed, as Unhinged has a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6/10 on IMDb. In his review, CNN’s Brian Lowry called it “an anti-blockbuster, a small-scale movie with a throwback drive-in feel that loses nothing in an at-home setting, and based on its minimal merit, has little to lose in any event.”
Nevertheless, the pandemic-era thriller is lighting up the Netflix charts. The positive reviews note that while the movie might not have much to say, Crowe offers a compelling performance as the psychopathic villain, and the action never stops once it starts.
You can stream Unhinged on Netflix right now.